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I know you have to make a buck but please don’t take me for a ride!

I blistered the taxi drivers ears! Some Dubai taxi drivers like to rip off their passengers because they think that they are smart and that everyone who looks different is a tourist. I gained sufficient experience of their dodgy antics during my early months of living here and because the black community around my area is thin, there’s high tendency of people assuming that I’m a tourist.

My car was taken for service and I had to be somewhere in a hurry. I didn’t want to take the train and stop at all the stations and possibly get to my destination hot and late. I hate going late for appointments.

I also didn’t feel like joining the bus and having a leisure ride through town.

I knew where I was going and what it would cost me to get there give and take the traffic flow. I’ve been there, many times over.

So, I took a taxi and the driver decided to take me on an Israelites journey through the wilderness and he meandered through all the nooks and crannies and the longest route available in town so that his meter would run as high as possible.

I wasn’t in the mood for a scenic view of the town and had not made such a request – no thank you! My interest wasn’t in getting to know about the best Indian restaurant around or about the cheaper malls that are having sales.

Yes, I enjoy Bollywood movies now and again, but I didn’t want to talk about it with you. That I’m a black woman alone doesn’t mean that I’m out looking for a good time.

All I wanted was to compose my marketing thoughts together and to get to my appointment on time.

Maybe the fact that I told him to concentrate on his driving made him decide to run off with me

Now and again my charitable side overlooks a dirham here and there and I leave some change for them ‘cos I know that it’s a struggle for them as well, but what I can’t stand is the smart Alec nonsense some of them come up with and the sudden convenient pretense not to understand English well enough. That’s just annoying!

I blistered his ears and told him that next time he pulls such nonsensical stunt he just might meet the wrong passenger who would report him to RTA (Road Transport Authority).

I felt ripped off. Thankfully after a rigmarole that cost me almost double the normal fare, I got to my meeting early enough.

Dubai taxis, I tell you! They think they are the masters of the road, some of them are downright rude! I have had a couple of bad experience with them whenever I used their services (which was a rare occurrence!)

Here’s a guy who’s trying to tell me about the hotspots in town when he thought I was a tourist and suddenly he couldn’t speak English again. Very silly behaviour! On the other hand, I thing their targets are tough.

There’s loads of construction going on (but I hear that pay in construction is not so good because they are able to get cheap labour from India, Pakistan and environs), however, an international recruit might be different. There are a number of consulting agencies online that handle recruitment. Maybe you could take a peek.

News flash for this: no matter if you are a “white woman” he will think you are out for a good time. also..he he…I had a driver in Oman lock the door on me and refuse to let me out until I paid him. I was sure he had ripped me off and I paid him what I thought I should and took off with him trailing behind me. Probably not that smart as a foreigner o my part, but I made it home!

These cab drivers can be so irritating at times! I hate it when they try to act oversmart assuming the other person is new to place! I hope you dont meet such kinds again! They turn off the mood so badly!

The way you wrote this…was extremely funny! I laughed throughout the whole bit. Yet I felt bad that you experienced what you did. He was definitely trying to take advantage of you and the fact that you had to tell him to pay attention to the road was unnerving. I hope the next time your car is being serviced you wont have any appointments until after it’s done!

Ah! This happens in Lagos too, once the Okada riders or Taxi driver assume that one is unfamiliar with the route or new in town, their cheating spirit comes out. It can be so annoying, especially when they think they are smarter than you.

You are lucky that you have a regulatory authority to report such poor behaviour.

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A wordsmith with a vivid imagination, an eager mind and a burning desire to carve out tales. As I journey with my muse to that land of all possibilities and self discovery, I hope my personal evolution will serve as a beacon of inspiration for anyone who chooses to stop by.